Brain & Body: How the Immune System Makes a Smarter Brain

This program for the general public featured two presentations by internationally known scientists on the early development of the brain and how the body's immune system continually "talks" to the brain. Dr. Kristin Hamre, a neuroscientist from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, gave an overview of brain development, with an emphasis on critical period and growth spurts. Dr. Staci Bilbo, our keynote speaker and a neuroscientist from Duke University, talked about how the immune system profoundly influences brain development, which has implications for cognitive functions as well as a number of neuropathological conditions. She discussed how the brain-immune conversation occurs normally, as well as during illness, injury, or infection, and thereby has a continual and powerful influence on mood, motivation, and learning in both health and disease. Dr. William E. Armstrong, Director of the University of Tennessee Neuroscience Institute, moderated the program.

It was at The Urban Child Institute on Thursday, March 18th from 6:30-8:30.